TURKISH Cypriot ‘Prime Minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat has written to UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan requesting the joint operation of the Institute of Neurology and Genetics with the Greek Cypriots.
Talat’s request comes at a time when moves are being made to resolve the issue of missing persons. The first meeting of the tri-partite Committee for Missing Persons (CMP) is to resume tomorrow. Among the major issues is the opening of mass graves in the north, which the Turkish Cypriots say cannot be done because they do not have the facilities to carry out DNA testing on any remains found.
State-of-the-art facilities are available on the Greek Cypriot side at the Institute, but the Turkish Cypriot insist they want a say in the process, something President Tassos Papadopoulos opposes.
In his letter to Annan, Talat said that since the Institute had been set up in 1990 with American money as a bi-communal venture, the Turkish Cypriots have every right to be involved in its operation.
Talat said that only a bi-communal operation could provide the reliable information necessary successfully to carry out the required DNA testing.
He expressed the readiness of his administration to move ahead with the missing persons issue as soon as the Turkish Cypriot member of the CMP was moved to adequate facilities where a data bank could be set up.
He said that having the DNA testing done by a third country would be too costly and time consuming.
Talat said it was necessary that the move be made soon as Turkish Cypriot relatives of missing persons had begun to come forward to give blood samples at the Institute to help in the identification of their loved ones.
“The results from the examinations of these samples of blood that are being received by the Greek Cypriots, without the presence of Turkish Cypriot officials, will not be considered reliable by our side,” the letter said.
“We propose that the Institute of Neurology and Genetics be adapted to allow Turkish Cypriots to participate actively in its administration and medical programmes as was initially envisaged when it was created.”
Exhumation of a grave at Alaminos in the Larnaca district was suspended in 2002 because of the Turkish Cypriot regime’s refusal to co-operate in the collection of blood samples from relatives of missing persons in the north. The grave contained the remains of Turkish Cypriots killed in fighting at the village during the 1974 invasion.
